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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011072" data-attributes="member: 18387">Cry Havoc is an event book that allows a GM to introduce a war into his campaign. All aspects of war are covered here, from small unit combat to the fielding of mass armies. The majority of this book covers small unit combat. Cry Havoc is broken down as follows.Introduction “War in your Campaign” describes what an event book is, why a GM might want to introduce a war into his campaign.Chapter one “Preparing for the Event” goes into detail about where to place a war, reasons for nations to go to war (religious, economic, etc.), who’s fighting in your war and how to end the war you have started.Chapter two “Integrating the Event” describes how to involve the PCs in the war, even giving a way to make the PCs the reason for the war. How the religious leaders and common men see a war and how they react to it are also covered in this chapter. Following this are the economics of the war and war induced disasters (common disasters that happen because of the war- famine, plague, etc.). While some of these things are not used for combat they help the GM enhance the feeling of a war. For instance, the economics section gives some ideas about what would happen to the cost of items in a war torn nation. Chapter three “Unit Combat” is the meat of the book. This is where the main use of the book comes into focus: All the information that is needed for running small unit combat (generally ten or so creatures to a unit) is located here. Combat is run using most of the standard D20 rules with a few exceptions. The basics of unit combat are simple, each unit has a average base attack bonus, AC, saves and damage. Damage is done a little different, units suffer damage in what is called Hits, Each hit is equal to five hit points. Another difference that might take some getting used to is that each unit takes up a fifty foot square (if you are using a battlemat than each square is fifty foot instead of five feet). Determining the average BAB, AC, etc. requires a little math. All you have to do is take the number that you are looking for multiply it by the number of creatures and then divide that number by the number of creatures (example: if you have ten human fighters with a BAB of +1 then you would take that +1 and multiply it by ten giving you ten, then take the number you just got and divide it by the number of creatures in the unit which once again would give you a +1 for their BAB). As you can see it is simple for units of the same type. This formula works for units of differing types it just takes a little longer because you have to figure out each set of combat bonuses for each set of different creatures. Although the math is not hard it will add a little more preparation time for the adventure. Also included are rules for unit versus individual combat and a section for issuing orders from commanding officers. Orders from a unit commander allow the unit to do certain actions that they normally can’t (things like repositioning themselves after they have engaged the enemy without provoking an attack of opportunity, etc.) A few other differences between individual combat and unit combat are that a round for unit combat takes one minute instead of six seconds and just because a unit is next to another unit does not mean that they are attacking each other, a unit has to attack another unit to be considered in hand to hand. Even though a unit is next to another does not mean they can’t use missile combat, this is because of the difference in the distances (fifty feet compared to five feet) each square are considered.Chapter four “Battlefield Magic” converts some of the standard PHB spells for unit combat. While most spells are covered I did notice a few missing. An example would be that Delayed Blast Fireball was here but Fireball was not, while not a big problem it does annoy me when simple things like this are missed. The PHB spells have had their range, duration and damage changed to fit in with the rules presented for unit combat. Also included are five new spells specifically designed for the battlefield, and with a little modification they could be used in a regular campaign. This chapter also covers turning and rebuking undead as well as monster special abilities.Chapter five “Skills and Feats” introduces one new skill and eight new feats. The new skill Military Commander allows a unit commander to issue more orders than normal. Out of the eight new feats the metamagic feat War Spell is the best one in my opinion it puts magic users and spells back in power. The feat allows a caster to enhance the area of effect, creature’s affected, etc. by ten times (a fireball enhanced by this feat affects a 200 foot radius instead of a 20 foot radius). Now as for the draw back two feats are required before you can take this one and the spell is cast as one level higher, now for the biggest  hindrance to this spell being used, it takes ten times as long to cast meaning that fireball will take one minute to cast. Like I said great for the battlefield but pretty much useless for normal combat. Chapter six “Army Combat” takes the rules for small unit combat and expands them for use with armies. The math is a little more complicated but the overall effect is the same, to allow the GM to run an army battle with relative ease. The biggest difference is that army combat is based on the overall power rating of the army. A armies power rating is broken down onto various categories (Defensive, Offensive, Scout, etc.). There are three types of army combat. First is Strategic combat followed by Quick combat and finally Tactical combat, each type is designed so the GM can run an army battle with ease.   Strategic combat provides the GM with a way to resolve an entire war in just a few die rolls, Quick combat is used when a GM wants to find the outcome of certain battles andTactical combat is used when the GM wants to run a battle hour by hour. All of the different types of combat presented here use power ratings to determine the outcome of a battle. Following that come information on raising armies, costs of fielding an army, and similar things dealing with huge armies. The fact that the last few things are included help to make the book great, the rules are not too complicated and are easy to use making them a GMs best friend. While these sections are not required they add a lot of flavor to the whole book.Chapter seven “Prestige Classes” details three new PRCs for your players and NPCs. The classes are the Death Dealer, Knight Commander, and the Shieldmate. The Death Dealer gains abilities towards killing single foes. His deathblow ability forces a single opponent to make a fortitude save or die, if the save is made the opponent suffers an additional amount of damage. The problem I have with this class that is this is a mass combat book- why include a single opponent specialist? Overall the class is balanced and of more use to NPCs than PCs with the certain requirements it has. The Knight Commander will be of the most use if you plan on using this book due to the fact that he gets abilities that help troops instead of individuals. The Shieldmate is a PRC that will most likely be an NPC due to the fact that most of her abilities are defensive. Her improved defense ability allows her to increase her AC when using the total defense option and fighting defensively. Also while doing this she may add some of her bonus to her AC to an ally adjacent to her.Chapter eight “Adventure Ideas” raps up the book with eighteen adventure hooks that all have to do with war. These ideas while not fully developed will help a GM in a tight spot for a single night’s adventure. With a little work these ideas could become an adventure that lasts for a while.Overall this is a great book that gives a GM the ability to bring war to his campaign. The information presented in this book make unit and army combat easy to do. I have played using some of these rules and while it will take some getting used to they are simple to use and add a lot to the game. I have always liked mass combat and thought that there should be a book about it and I have found it. So if you are looking for a book that goes into detail about mass combat and is easy to use, here it is. Sure it will take a little longer for the GM to prepare but if you want war it is worth it.</blockquote>

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